Q&A: Why the Niger Delta is primed for investment and improvement

The Niger Delta is the prime location for investment in sustainable development initiatives, but too many are put off by the area’s reputation, said Tunji Idowu, executive director of Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta, or PIND.

The 150-mile-long delta, located in the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria, has a population of at least 31.2 million according to data from 2006, an average of 22% of whom live in poverty. Made up of nine states, the area is known for its oil and gas industries, which had at varying times sparked conflicts between warring factions vying for control. Violence in the area is commonplace while the average youth unemployment rate sits at 42.5%.

But Idowu believes this context makes the Niger Delta an ideal location in which to bring more projects on solar energy, youth inclusion, agriculture, and peace programming to scale. “You have a diverse array of areas where you can really make an impact and you can invest,” he said, explaining that this is something PIND has experience in.

Founded in 2010 with initial funding from Chevron Corporation, PIND aims to grow networks of partners to implement solutions that reduce the dependency on oil and build peace and equitable economic development.

“We're shifting the focus and the dependence on the oil and gas sector to other productive sectors that are non-oil, especially agriculture, services, and so on — and then we're helping to grow livelihoods in those areas,” Idowu said. “But we need more hands out there.”

Speaking to Devex on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, he explained why more implementers should move into the area, shared some of the successes PIND has already seen in the region, and highlighted the lessons it’s learned in navigating the context.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What can you share about the progress the Niger Delta region is already making in regard to sustainable development?

The progress that has been made through the efforts of PIND, its partners, and other stakeholders in the region is to showcase the opportunities that lie in the non-oil sectors, especially agriculture, services, and medium, small, and micro-sized enterprises.

The other thing is the culture of helping the nine states to think long term and plan ahead for development efforts. Oftentimes, what gets done is [based on] what’s popular with the chief executive of the state … but we've worked with at least three states to undertake comprehensive multistakeholder planning around development to help them to have a broader focus.

The other thing, in terms of moving the needle, is in moving from being a very fragile context to one that's seeing less conflict. That’s because people have been equipped to understand and employ other means to address conflict than they’ve traditionally had. We've invested in social capital and the right people to take on those efforts, rather than the reactionary responses that the state agencies would have had.

What are the biggest challenges that remain?

Getting young people to understand that agriculture can be sexy. Many have the notion it's got to be what their grandfathers did. They look at the production side and think of guys in tattered undervests and doing things in the old, analog way. We’re letting them see the opportunities within the value chain — from production to marketing and processing to digital platforms and service provisions — so that many of them are now taking up careers and starting enterprises in the agricultural space. They see that there's value and money to be made and it can be interesting.

We also need more coordination of all these efforts. We need to bring things to scale. The government still executes its own initiatives rather inefficiently with limited resources. More efficient deployment and coordination would ensure that as we're doing things around agricultural value chains, the government is complementing efforts with the right policies, infrastructure provision and other things of that nature.

What are some of the approaches that you're taking to address these challenges?

One is around our peacebuilding. Traditionally, it was the troublemakers, the conflict merchants, those who benefited from conflict situations that got the most attention. Sometimes people get negatively reinforced and rewarded and that perpetuates a cycle. Our model is to look at the traditional stakeholders that people go to for help in resolving conflicts: the priest, the community leader, the school headmaster, and so on. We then amplify their voices as advocates for peace, link them with others like them, then build their capacity, and put some institutional resources in place for them to be able to function more effectively.

In the youth programming area, Nigeria didn't lack a lot of technical, vocational educational training programs. However, what you had were graveyards of many of these things. Oftentimes they were training people, targeting them for the oil and gas sector because everybody wanted to be a player there. But then you had an oversupply of welders who got frustrated because they couldn't get jobs. What we did was to make sure that demand was matching supply. We worked with market actors, and employers of labor, and institutions, and focused on training them not only in technical skills, but in soft skills to prepare them for the marketplace, while also linking them with access to capital.

In the access to energy space, we have promoted the installation of solar mini-grids to last-mile communities. People have said that electricity is like the Holy Grail of development, but Africa has graveyards of solar projects that were not sustainable. What we've done differently is to prove that we can facilitate the entry of power developers into those communities. Our role is to de-risk the entry of these private sector players because they won't go where the opportunities don't lie. We ensure governance and because we have convening power and can build trust between both sides, we make it easy for them.

What impact are you having so far with these approaches?

We have directly reached around 1 million people with information and services to improve their agricultural and business processes. Nearly half a million of these have seen their net income rise and, remember, we're talking about the poorest of the poor here.

Our efforts have contributed to about 65,000 jobs being created and again, because of our convening power, we have pulled in various partners and helped to facilitate investment into the Niger Delta region from local, and global entities, bilateral, and multilateral agencies in the public, private and social sectors to the tune of about $140 million. We've touched nearly 3,000 businesses and households that now have access to electricity through the solar minigrids. We've also established a network of peace volunteers that is over 10,000 members strong.

Given that success, are there any lessons learned that you would share about working in the region?

One lesson is that you need to tap into the collective strength of various players. You need multiple partners. You need everybody pulling together.

The second is to give yourself some time and patience to get things done and be open to those new learnings and work with people.

The other thing is that multiple pathways are helpful when it comes to youth employment programming. Creating synergies to properly prepare them and making sure things are demand-led is critical.

One final thing is that when peace efforts are grassroots-driven, you have stronger ownership and more impact. The truth is that to bring things to scale, you need to continue to look for additional investments and partner with people.

PIND’s efforts alone are just a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of the Niger Delta region’s development opportunities. With expanded partnerships and collaborations, these efforts can scale up, become an ocean itself and touch more lives. Learn more about partnering with PIND.